Star Light: Meanwhile In The War Room
by Zandra Dae
Summary: Post 5th year, non OOTP compliant, AU, Draco-featuring summer story. If you haven't read Like A Star, this may not make sense, but give it a shot. Chapter three features Draco, Kaytryn, and some supreme stupidity from everyone's favorite Slytherin flower.
1. Chapter 1

**Thanks to Nat for betaing this and to Andrew for saving the whole story. I think. Maybe. We'll see. **

**That's actually what took so long. This is the highly revised version of Star Light. But I like this one better. I hope you do too. Well. I hope you like this one. Not necessarily better since only Nat really knows the first one at all. Whatever.**

**Please read and review. That would be very much appreciated.**

**This is not mine, its JKR's. Except for the parts you don't recognize.**

**This is it.**

A very pregnant Narcissa Malfoy stood on the edge of the train platform next to a man and woman, a few years older than herself. The man held a baby carrier with a month old baby lying like a useless lump in the carrier's seat. The woman looked up and down the platform expectantly. Narcissa sensed that the baby was a witch, and a very powerful one at that, but the parents were both muggle. A shorter girl with a wild mane of brown hair nearly tossed 11-year-old Keiran Malfoy into the side of the express in her rush to the couple next to Narcissa. From the strength of the magic pouring off the girl and the sheer size of her hair, Narcissa knew she looked at Hermione Granger, her oldest son's number one competition in school, and one of her 11-year-old daughter Astrid's closest friends.

"Damn mudblood!" Keiran muttered, announcing his presence on the platform next to his mother.

"Keiran Nigel Malfoy!" Narcissa hissed, glaring down at her younger son. Before she could say anything else, she was cut off by a loud shriek erupting from a silver-haired black blur ripping towards them at a high rate of speed across the platform.

"EMMA!" The noise was finally audibly a word. Ten-year-old Emma Malfoy stepped from behind her mother and held her arms towards her sister.

"Astrid!" she said at a normal level of volume for anyone else. This was exceptionally loud for Emma. Astrid dived into Emma's out stretched arms. For a moment, Narcissa wasn't sure which of her daughters was happier to see the other. Then the pair collapsed onto the floor, rolling around in a mass of black robes and silvery hair.

"Girls, really," Narcissa said. The pair paused and looked up at their mother.

"Yes mum?" Astrid questioned. Her ponytail had fallen nearly completely out. Wisps of silky hair cascaded around her face. Emma's tiny oval glasses had been knocked askew.

"Could the pair of you please act like you've got a brain between you?" Draco snapped, stepping up behind his sisters who were still lying in the floor. He tapped Emma lightly with the toe of his shoe.

"Okay!" Narcissa insisted. "Keiran, you need to keep your mouth shut and your opinions to yourself. Astrid and Emma, you need to stand up and act like the young ladies I tried to raise you to be. Draco, you need to try to be nicer to your sisters." She looked at each of her children as she spoke, and even went so far as to tap Keiran on his head when mentioning his name. He instantly stepped out from under her hand and deepened the scowl he was already shooting at her.

"So do you all have everything, are you ready to go home?"

"Why are you here anyway?" Keiran asked. "Why don't we just get to take the carriage like we normally do?"

"The carriage is waiting," Narcissa replied, looking down at the boy.

"Well can Emma and the Traitor get off of the floor so we can go home?" the boy asked.

"Keiran!" Narcissa scolded. "I do not want to hear you refer to your sister as that in my presence again. Ever." Keiran glared up at his mother.

"Do you all have your trunks?" Narcissa questioned. The three children returning from school all nodded. Astrid had picked herself up off the floor and helped Emma to her feet. She brushed the younger girl's robes off as she nodded at their mother.

"Alright then, to the carriage," she said. She turned sharply on her heel and started towards the second barrier onto the platform. The ministry had installed the second barrier after pureblooded families had complained about dealing with muggles in Kings' Cross. "How was the remainder of the school year?"

"Alright," Astrid said. "Not very eventful except for the hide and seek game that ended up with one of my friends setting fire to the Three Broomsticks."

"How did that happen?" Emma whispered.

"I'll tell you the entire story later," Astrid assured her sister.

"How about you boys?" Narcissa questioned.

"Hogwarts won the inter-school Quidditch cup," Draco announced. "We beat Durmstrang in the tie-breaking game largely thanks to a goal I scored."

"Good job, Draco," Narcissa said, nodding at her son.

"He's not mentioning the fact that Angelina scored like 20 before him or that Harry actually caught the snitch," Astrid muttered to Emma. Draco spun sharply on his heel, robes billowing around him in a display that would have made Snape proud, and glared down at his little sisters.

"I heard that Astrid," he snapped. She shrugged and smirked at her brother; slightly relieved that she could finally smirk and not be told she looked like a Malfoy.

"You were supposed to, Draco," she replied. She quickly pushed thin strands of hair behind both of her ears as she returned her brother's glare. Narcissa and all four children walked through the barrier at the same time, not worried about being noticed, and not all that bothered with walking through a barrier at all. So much so that Draco and Astrid didn't stop their fierce staring contest.

"Here is the carriage," Narcissa announced. The Malfoy family carriage had been pulled as close to the barrier as the concierge would allow. Four large Abraxan stamped in front of the carriage, fully ready to take flight and pull the Malfoy carriage back to the Manor. Narcissa opened the carriage door. Stairs spilled down and stopped at her feet. She walked up them and took her seat facing the horses. The stairs immediately refolded themselves and disappeared into the floor of the carriage. Keiran scrambled unceremoniously up onto the carriage floor and stood up. He regained his composure so quickly that it didn't seem like he had needed to scramble at all. He carefully took a seat across from his mother. Emma backed a few steps away from the carriage door. She waved the still staring Astrid and Draco out of her way and ran towards the door. When she got to the door, she placed her hands on the floor and flung her legs to the left. Pushing with her arms, she brought her legs up to land on the carriage floor and she stood up in a much neater fashion than her brother had. She smiled smugly at him as she sunk into the seat next to her mother.

"Astrid! Draco! Come on!" Narcissa insisted from inside the carriage. Draco finally looked completely away from his little sister and glanced inside the carriage at his mum.

"I win!" Astrid crowed. Draco glared back down at her.

"Help your sister into the carriage and let's go," Narcissa insisted. Draco nodded and cupped his hands together. He held his hands down to about knee level and braced himself. Astrid set her heel into his hands and vaulted into the carriage. Draco, using a bar on the side of the carriage and his formidable height, hoisted himself into the carriage almost before Astrid could get out of the way. Narcissa and Emma took up their entire bench, as Narcissa had sprawled across nearly two seats. Astrid sat down next to Keiran, leaving room for Draco between herself and her twin. He took the seat and the door to the carriage closed. The Abraxan began walking towards the exit of the large converted warehouse the ministry had claimed as a carriage parking area. When they reached the door, rather than walking outside, a hole in the roof of the building opened and the Abraxan took flight towards Malfoy Manor.

"So why, may I ask again, did you come pick us up?" Keiran once more asked his mother. The carriage soared high above London.

"Because, Keiran, your father has some special assignments for the four of you this summer," Narcissa replied, looking across the carriage into her youngest son's icy blue eyes. He and Emma inherited their eyes from her. Barrett, the now deceased daughter younger than Emma, had found brown eyes somewhere in the gene pool. Draco and Astrid got their fathers grey eyes, taken to a level of silver Lucius couldn't dream of. Narcissa wondered what color eyes the youngest child would have as she rested her hands on her protruding stomach.

"What kind of assignments, mother?" Emma questioned.

"Well," Narcissa began. She paused and looked directly at her oldest son before beginning again. "Draco. Antonin Dolohov and his son and daughter are staying at the manor all summer."

"Do I have to baby-sit?" Draco questioned. He crossed his arms over his chest and glared at his mother.

"I hardly think you'll find you have to baby-sit Kaytryn Dolohov," Narcissa replied.

"Kaytryn?" Draco questioned, sounding slightly irritated. "I get stuck with Kaytryn Dolohov all summer?"

"Draco, I believe the Kaytryn Dolohov you've been instructed to keep company all summer is a far cry from the Kaytryn Dolohov you played with when you were four and she was seven," Narcissa replied. She smiled at her son but he ignored her.

"We'll see about that," Draco finally snorted. The Kaytryn he remembered had been something of a brat. She idolized her father and wanted to follow in his footsteps. In as much, she told him everything that happened, leading Draco and his friends to remain in almost constant trouble. He, of course, hadn't seen her since her father was thrown into Azkaban.

"Isn't Dolohov supposed to be in Azkaban anyway?" Draco questioned, finally realizing exactly what seemed so weird with the situation with Kaytryn.

"Your father needed his expertise for something this summer, so a release was negotiated. I don't know any of the details, and I'm not sure the release was exactly what you'd called entirely legal, so don't ask because I can't answer your questions," Narcissa replied. Draco nodded and looked over at Astrid.

"Keiran," Narcissa continued doling out instructions. "When you're not in meetings with your father, you are to make sure Corbin Dolohov is entertained." Keiran opened his mouth to say something but Narcissa cut him off. "Your father gave that order.

"And lastly, I thought you'd like to be aware of a banquet your father is holding tonight," Narcissa said.

"Banquet?" Astrid squeaked. She attempted to sit up a bit straighter in her seat. Narcissa crossed her left ankle over her right and nodded at the girl.

"There are many people staying in the Manor for the summer. Your father thought a banquet once everyone arrived would be a grand gesture," Narcissa explained.

"Dress robes?" Emma questioned quietly.

"Yes, dress robes are required," Narcissa replied. "And Draco, you will escort Kaytryn to the banquet, while Astrid, you will allow Corbin to act as your escort. Emma, you will remain in the company of the younger children. Keiran, I suggest you see your father as soon as we arrive at the manor for your instructions. The rest of you will have an hour before you're expected to arrive in the banquet hall."

"When will I meet Kaytryn?" Draco demanded.

"She's probably at the manor getting ready now. I will find her as soon as we arrive and send her to your room," Narcissa offered. Draco nodded.

"That's all the news I have," Narcissa said. She shifted her weight slightly in her seat and tucked a strand of hair behind her. "Now tell me about your years at school."

Draco stepped out of the shower and towards the steamy mirror. He rubbed the glass with a fluffy white towel and observed himself in the freshly clean surface. He picked up his wand from the green marble countertop and directed a spell at himself. His hair fell immediately in thin, loose strands about his face. The water that had been trailing in thin rivulets from his broad shoulders all of the way down to his heels dissipated. The towel fell to the floor, slightly damp and completely useless. Draco reached for the doorknob and pulled open the heavy door. A blast of cool air hit him head on. The fine blonde hair covering his legs and arms stood on end and he almost thought about grabbing the towel to drape around his hips. In celebration of the freedom of his own room rather than the crowded dorm, he decided against it, and quickly hurried across the floor to the large black armoire situated in the corner across from the main entrance. He pulled the doors to the armoire open and stepped in front o fit to survey the contents. He rested on his heels, feet spread slightly apart. His hands lay on his hips, fingers stretched down onto impossibly white flesh, a subtle reminder of his blatant lack of clothing.

"Wow Draco, wear that to dinner and you'll be the life of the party," A husky, unfamiliar female voice issued from the doorway directly behind the boy.

"How long have you been standing there?" Draco asked calmly. He didn't dare turn around, but he didn't reach for anything to cover himself either.

"Long enough," the girl replied. "Or maybe not. We'll have to test that theory later." Draco reached for a pair of plain black silk boxers. He carefully placed first his left, then his right foot into the shorts. He made a show of pulling the garment up. The black material slithered up his impossibly long, pale legs. He snapped the elastic lightly on the crests of his hips as the shorts settled into place.

"Damn! I was enjoying the view!" The girl joked.

"My bum was cold," Draco explained. He finally turned to face the girl.

"Kaytryn Dolohov, I presume," Draco questioned. He quickly stepped around his bed and closed the remaining space between himself and the figure in the doorway.

"The one and only," Kaytryn replied, holding out her right hand to Draco. He took it in both of his and bowed his head. Looking across the back of his hand directly into her smoky gray eyes, he brushed a lingering kiss on her knuckles.

"Do you find it at all difficult, trying to be charming after I just saw you completely naked?" Kaytryn questioned. Draco moved his face away from her hand and drew himself up to his full height. The top of her head fell even with his chin.

"Not really," he replied. "If I was ugly, I might."

"My my, aren't we cocky tonight?" Kaytryn questioned.

"There is a world of difference between being cocky and being honest," Draco shrugged. He dropped Kaytryn's hand and took a few steps backwards.

"Go put clothes on so we're not late for dinner," Kaytryn said.

"Just a minute ago you suggested not wearing anything," Draco reminded the girl. She tucked a strand of mid back length fire engine red hair back into her fancy up-do.

"Yes, well, I gave the possibility a second thought and realized the risk of blindness due to lunar glare wasn't one neither I nor anyone else in the manor needed to be subjected to." Draco stepped into his closet to select an outfit. Kaytryn produced a pair of shoulder-high red gloves from somewhere on her sleeveless red dress robe and began pulling them on.

"Lunar glare?" Draco questioned from inside his closet.

"You know!" Kaytryn insisted as she worked the tight red material over her right forearm. "the blinding quality your arse gets when light reflects off of it."

"Not funny, Kaytryn!" Draco called as he rifled through his rack of dress robes, trying to choose one perfect for the occasion.

"Then you really must not realize how pasty white your arse is!" Kaytryn laughed. She snapped the top of her right glove into place on her upper arm and began pulling her left glove on. Draco finally chose a dress robe Narcissa had bough him in France the previous summer. He pulled on black pants, a black button down shirt, and the perfectly tailored black robe. He fixed the clasp at the base of his neck and reached for a pair of impossibly shiny black dragon leather shoes. He slid them on and tied them before stepping out of his closet.

"Ready now?" Kaytryn asked. She had finished pulling on her gloves and stood before Draco, smallish hands on her thin hips.

"Need to do my hair," Draco insisted.

"It looks fine like that, Kaytryn called as Draco hurried to his bathroom.

"Father insists it looks too girlish without styling potion, and I don't much want to deal with him since it is his banquet," Draco replied.

"What the fuck does he know about girlish?" Kaytryn screeched. "He wears a ponytail!"

"I don't question him," Draco replied. He dumped a liberal amount of potion in his hand and rubbed his hands together before running them through his hair to plaster it back from his face. He muttered the spell to make the potion harden and remove the excess from his hands before opening a drawer to the right of the sink. After carefully rolling his right sleeve up to his elbow, he picked up a piece of carefully tooled black leather. It was about 10 inches long and four inches wide, with three black leather straps dangling from either side. He placed the piece of leather against the inside of his right forearm. The straps instantly did themselves up around his arm. He moved his wrist around to make sure he had sufficient range of motion before sliding his wand into the custom made sheath. When the wand was carefully stored, he ran his fingers over the real silver DCM in the end of the handle.

"Are you ready yet?" Kaytryn questioned from just outside the bathroom door. Draco picked up a bottle of his favorite cologne and sprayed just a bit on himself. He stepped towards the door and pulled it open. When he stopped into view, Kaytryn gasped audibly.

"Shall we?" Draco asked. He held out his arm to Kaytryn. She placed her hand on his right arm, just below the crook of his elbow.

"We shall," she replied.

"No, Aunt Loretta, I didn't come in first in my class this year," Draco admitted. He looked down at the unidentifiable French dish the house elves had served. He, Kaytryn, Astrid and Corbin had been seated at the very end of the long table in the manor's main banquet hall. Keiran sat in a place of honor next to his father and a cloaked and hooded visitor. Draco suspected the visitor was none other than Voldemort, but he had no real intentions of finding out for sure. His father's great aunt Loretta Lestrange had been given the seat across from Draco and Kaytryn, and next to Astrid and Corbin. Draco had often wondered how his mother could have a sister named Bellatrix Lestrange and his father could have an aunt named Loretta Lestrange and the pair not be related. He finally understood that both of his aunts had married men in the Lestrange family, so his father and mother weren't related and everything worked out very neatly.

Aunt Loretta, Lucius's mother's sister, wasn't exactly in possession of all of her mental facilities. As such, Lucius had given her a seat as far away from his friends and associates as possible. Draco suspected this was part of a sadistic punishment for himself and Astrid.

"What place did you come in?" Loretta demanded.

"Second, Aunt Loretta," Draco replied. He felt a hand on his right knee. The hand spread across his knee and the thumb began rubbing slow circles on the inside of his leg. He glanced to his right and saw Kaytryn smiling maliciously across the table, not taking her eyes off Aunt Loretta. Draco wasn't sure how to take Kaytryn. He hadn't seen her since she was seven years old, and she had changed an immeasurable amount in those 11 years. She had gone from a chubby girl to a thin young woman. Her dark brown hair now sported fire-engine red and blonde stripes. Draco couldn't even call them streaks, for they weren't, they were stripes. She had smoky grey eyes and a severe face accentuated by a sharp jaw line and high cheekbones. Her lips were thin and red and she had a thin, slightly pointed but smallish nose. Draco had to admit that she was attractive, but he still hadn't been able to grasp her eccentric personality. It seemed as though she would say just about anything and didn't really care who heard her. He couldn't, however, tell if her loyalties still lay with her father as they had when she was younger, or if she, like he, had begun to question.

"Who beat you? How many O.W.L.'s did he have?" Loretta questioned. Kaytryn's hand inched slightly higher on Draco's leg and her thumb continued its smooth movements. And then there was the sudden matter of her hand on his leg. Draco really wasn't sure how to interpret that signal.

"She had fifteen," Draco replied.

"She!" Loretta screeched. "SHE!" Kaytryn's hand inched ever higher.

"Yes, she," Draco said, taking another bite of his dinner and trying to ignore Kaytryn's ministrations.

"Of course she's got to be pureblooded," Loretta mused in her nearly visible mental search for who could have beaten her great nephew in class rank.

"What exactly are you doing?" Draco hissed to Kaytryn while Loretta raked her aged brain.

"Making things a bit more interesting," came Kaytryn's whispered reply. She squeezed Draco's leg lightly.

"You let that vacuous whore Parkinson get more O.W.L.'s than you!" Loretta finally exclaimed. Astrid released a noise that was a cross between a cough, a snort, and a laugh, but came out sounding mostly like the final noise of a dying hyena.

"Nice impression of Pansy's laugh there tiny Malfoy," Kaytryn laughed as she slid her hand nearly halfway up Draco's thigh. Draco willed his face to keep its calm mask while Astrid's hyena noises resolved into a round of coughs. Draco carefully slid his hand off of the table and placed it over Kaytryn's on his leg to stop the girl's progress.

"Spoil my fun," Kaytryn hissed.

"Abigail!" Loretta scolded, as Corbin furiously patted the girl's back to try to ease her furious coughing.

"The name's Astrid," Astrid finally gasped as her coughs subsided. At a level only Kaytryn, Corbin and Draco could hear, she added, "you senile old bat." Corbin gasped and managed to inhale a rather large piece of spinach in the process. He tried to inhale sharply again, but only managed a weak wheeze, as the offending spinach was lodged in his airway. Draco quickly pulled his wand from its holster. He transferred it to his right hand and slung his arm Around Kaytryn's shoulders. The position wasn't ideal for any serious spell casting, but having the wand on the other side of Kaytryn's head was more than perfect for the particular situation. On the other side of the table, Astrid drew her hand back.

"_Accio food," _Draco muttered, training his wand directly on Corbin's throat. At the same time, Astrid's hand flew forward and crashed into the boys' back with a loud thud. The spinach rocketed from Corbin's open mouth, straight across the table. It plastered itself to Kaytryn's right cheek with a wet slurping noise. Kaytryn didn't squeal the way any of the girls Draco knew from school would. Instead, she turned to face him calmly, with slimy green spinach still running down her cheek. Without a word, she reached up and scooped the blob off of her check with her left hand and quickly put her left hand under the table. It seemed as though she dropped the spinach, so Draco re-holstered his wand and turned back to Astrid, who was laughing hysterically, and Corbin, who was gulping water at a high rate of speed.

"I have never seen such horridly behaved children!" Loretta cried.

"Sorry Auntie Loretta," Astrid smirked into her plate so her facial features wouldn't contradict her words. Loretta snorted softly,

"Much better," she said. Draco felt a hand at the top of his thigh, nearly where hands didn't need to be when he was sitting directly across from Aunt Loretta. The hand pressed down rather roughly and soon enough, his leg felt slightly wet, even through his robe, pants, and boxers. He looked over at Kaytryn. Her face had returned to its malicious smile.

"Kaytryn Dolohov! That was totally uncalled for," Draco hissed.

"What?" Kaytryn asked innocently. She moved her hand, leaving the chewed spinach stuck to Draco's pants. Draco reached under the table and tentatively touched the stringy green mass.

"This is positively disgusting, Kaytryn!" Draco insisted.

"You asked for it," Kaytryn replied.

"Draco, Abigail, I'm off to find your mother," Loretta announced. She stood up and tottered off towards the other end of the table. The food disappeared from the plates.

"Where is she going?" Narcissa asked aloud from a spot she had just taken behind Draco and Kaytryn.

"She's looking for you, mum," Astrid replied.

"Senile old bat!" Narcissa muttered under her breath. The four young people laughed rather more loudly than they would have had Astrid not made the same comment moments earlier.

"Astrid's sentiments exactly, Mrs. Malfoy," Kaytryn finally said after her laughter subsided.

"Please Kaytryn, call me Narcissa. Mrs. Malfoy is Loretta's sister," Narcissa insisted.

"And on the subject of senile old bats," Draco began. Narcissa cuffed him on the back of his head before he could tie his grandmother into the subject of his statement.

"Well mum," Draco began again.

"No Draco, nothing about your grandmum right now," Narcissa insisted. "I was actually just coming to tell you that the men are retiring to your father's study and the women are retiring to my sitting room. As this is purely a social event, you children are free to go," Narcissa said.

"What about dessert?" Astrid questioned. Narcissa shrugged.

"I'll have the elves send it to you, if you don't want to come back down for it," she finally said.

"Sounds fantastic!" Astrid insisted. Two sharp claps sounded from the other end of the hall. Lucius stood at the end of the table, staring down at his guests and waiting for them to move.

"So what do you say we go find normal clothing and something to do until dessert?" Astrid asked, glancing over at Corbin. The boy nodded vigorously and the pair pushed their chairs back from the table.

"See you guys around," Astrid said as she stood, straitening her light purple dress robes as she did.

"Bye Astrid, Bye Corbin," Kaytryn replied. Draco simply nodded curtly at the pair. Astrid and Corbin slowly followed the remaining grownups out of the room. Draco and Kaytryn watched in silence until the door shut behind the small pair.

"Miss Dolohov," Draco began. He had a tone of superiority in his voice that he usually reserved for inferior life forms: Hufflepuffs, Gryffindors and the like.

"Yes, Mr. Malfoy?" Kaytryn replied. She turned to face him fully, and placed her hand on his arm as he spoke. She also batted her long eyelashes, giving herself a look not entirely unlike the one Pansy Parkinson usually wore.

"I seem to have a large piece of half chewed Spinach stuck nearly on my crotch," Draco stated simply, still glaring at Kaytryn.

"You do?" Kaytryn asked, widening her eyes and drawing her mouth into a tight "o" shape.

"Yes," Draco replied evenly.

"Why?" Kaytryn asked innocently. Draco pushed his chair back from the table and Kaytryn's grasp.

"I don't know," he replied, standing. The green spinach showed brightly against the black expanse of robe.

"Whatcha gonna do about it?" Kaytryn asked.

"This!" Draco cried. Lightning quick seeker turned keeper reflexes kicked into play as he sprang towards the girl. He plucked her from her chair and tossed her headfirst over his shoulder. She shrieked loudly and pounded small, spinach covered, red gloved fists on his back as he walked for the door. The piece of offending food fell forgotten and unnoticed from Draco's pants.

"Draco!" Kaytryn shrieked. She kicked her feet rather ineffectually. Draco nudged the door with her furiously moving feet and it easily swung open.

"Yes, Kaytryn?" Draco asked calmly, even though he was struggling to keep his grip on the girl.

"Put me down!" Kaytryn insisted.

"No! I don't think so!" Draco replied. "I'm going to teach you what happens to people who put spinach on my dress robes." Kaytryn's body fell still across his shoulder, the dead weight almost worse than her wiggling.

"Sounds kinky," she mused.

"You'd probably like kinky," came Draco's retort. A low growl issued from the girl's throat.

"If that was an attempt to get me to change my mind about what I'm going to do to you, it won't work," Draco warned. "It sounded too much like some of the sounds that come from Crabbe's and Goyle's beds at night." Kaytryn gave a fierce jerk and almost bounced out of Draco's grasp.

"Nice try, Kaytryn, but that'll only cause you to get a body bind," Draco warned. Kaytryn fell still again.

"What are you thinking?" Draco questioned. "Or do I want to know?" Kaytryn shrugged as best she could, hanging over Draco's shoulder.

"Not sure you want to know," Kaytryn replied simply. She let her hand trail down to the top of Draco's trousers. She could feel the thick band of cloth through his dress robes. Draco ignored her touch.

"What, may I ask, do you think you're doing?" the boy finally asked after the girls touch persisted for the better part of three corridors. Kaytryn immediately moved her hand away.

"Nothing!" she insisted in a way that sounded way more innocent than it actually was.

Draco finally arrived at the door to his room. He muttered the password and the door swung open. He stepped inside and crossed the room with 10 very purposeful strides. He stopped at the window and began to fiddle with the complex latch. Opening it was made much harder by the Kaytryn still slung over his shoulder.

"Can you let me down now?" Kaytryn questioned. The window swung open with a very audible squeak. Draco peered out the third story window to make sure the landing area was as perfect as he hoped. It was.

"Certainly," he replied smoothly. He leaned even further forward. Kaytryn began to tip unceremoniously off of his shoulder. He pushed her way from him rather forcefully so she wouldn't smack into the side of the manor on her way to the ground. At the exact last second, Kaytryn realized there was nothing below her for three stories besides air. She wrenched her body back towards the window and twisted her hands into the front of Draco's robe as though her life depended on it. Afraid of tearing his robe, Draco sprang forward. He caught Kaytryn in him air before launching them both into a complicated pattern of flips and twists.

"DRACO!" Kaytryn screeched. He paid no attention to the girl that still had a death grip on the front of his robe. At the last second, he twisted so that she would land first with him on top of her. She hit the water with a very painful sounding splash and immediately rocketed several meters below the surface. Upon hitting the water, Kaytryn's grip on Draco's robes immediately loosened. He kicked away from her and swam to the surface. A moment later, Kaytryn surfaced a few meters away from him. Her hair trailed down around her face, plastered to her cheeks in wet strands. She treaded water carefully as she coughed forcefully to dislodge the water from her lungs.

"Okay?" Draco questioned perfunctorily after a moment or two of Kaytryn's fierce coughing. She nodded weakly before launching into another series of coughs. Draco pulled his drenched wand out of his holster and fired a spell at the girl.

"Buoyancy charm," he explained. "So you don't have to tread water."

"Thanks," Kaytryn muttered weakly after another moment.

"No problem," Draco replied. "Mashing spinach on my dress robes isn't an offence punishable by death, after all." He treaded water easily about two meters from Kaytryn. Kaytryn rested lazily, head bobbing slightly above the water courtesy of Draco's charm.

"Just punishable by being pitched out of a third story window, right?" Kaytryn questioned. Draco nodded.

"But now I've got to come up with something suitable to get you back for pulling me in with you," the boy laughed evilly.

"When did you lot starting jumping out of your window, anyway?" Kaytryn asked.

"Astrid did it the summer she, Keiran and Emma were all five," Draco explained. "She scared mum so bad that mum nearly vanished the pool. In the end, Lucius just did charms to keep us from being in too much pain or killing ourselves."

"So you're telling me a five year Astrid was the first person to try what just scared me nearly shitless!" Kaytryn screeched. Draco nodded solemnly.

"I guess we should have known then that she'd make an excellent Gryffindor," Draco mused. He had finally cast his own charm and he bobbed slowly in the water near Kaytryn.

"Wait wait wait!" Kaytryn cried. "A WHAT?"

"A Gryffindor," Draco replied.

"That's what I thought you said," Kaytryn laughed. "It's just the idea of a Malfoy not in Slytherin is…" she paused, searching for the right word.

"Surprising?" Draco questioned. "Shocking? Absolutely Absurd?" Kaytryn shook her head. Her wet hair stayed plastered flat against her skull.

"I'll agree with surprising and shocking, but then I have to go with absolutely fantastic," Kaytryn admitted. Draco raised his right eyebrow at the girl, a skill he had perfected alongside his smirk, but had fewer chances to us in human interaction.

"What? She didn't allow her father's wishes to lord over her decision. And at age 11 with a father like Lucius Malfoy! I have to say that's pretty impressive," Kaytryn explained.

"How do you know about Hogwarts houses anyway?" Draco questioned, completely changing the subject. Kaytryn gave a simple shrug.

"Mum wanted to send me to Hogwarts, so I read the big history book in preparation for that. Then my grandfather insisted both Corbin and I be sent to Durmstrang. And besides, my uncle works at Hogwarts," Kaytryn said.

"Uncle?" Draco questioned. He reached up and wiped a drip of water off of the end of his nose and tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to push his drenched hair away from his face. Kaytryn nodded slyly.

"I'm sure you're familiar with Snape?" she questioned. "Or Uncle Sev, as we call him. His older sister Agatha and mine and Corbin's mum are one and the same." Draco's jaw dropped and a bit of water splashed gently into his open mouth. He promptly closed his mouth and slowly blinked twice at Kaytryn.

"Yes Draco, Severus Snape is my uncle," Kaytryn laughed. Draco shook his head as though he was protesting the reality of the statement.

"Well, you probably think he has no family and due to a couple of disinheritances and things, he legally doesn't, but I still claim him as my uncle," Draco shook his head again.

"Hey!" Kaytryn objected. "My Uncle Sev is no different than your Aunt Loretta. HE just needs to be shagged a little worse than she does."

"Kaytryn please!" Draco spluttered. "Not a mental image I wanted. "Kaytryn smiled sweetly at the boy."

"Maybe Aunt Loretta and Uncle Sev should get together. They might be good for each other!" Kaytryn laughed Draco shuddered visibly.

"Oh dear God, think of the children!" he muttered and pushed a strand of slowly drying hair back from his face.

"No. The hope there is that Aunt Loretta is too old for them to reproduce. Of course, being magic," Kaytryn stopped speaking and shrugged lightly. Draco drew his hands to his chest, palms facing Kaytryn, and quickly extended his arms through the water at his companion. A wave of water rocked up and splashed down over Kaytryn head.

"I was talking about us!" he insisted, but Kaytryn didn't respond. She, instead, bobbed in the water face down and hair spread out about her.

"Not funny, Kaytryn!" Draco said. The girl still didn't respond again. Draco moved a bit closer to her.

"Kaytryn?" he questioned when the girl still hadn't moved. She remained still, so Draco closed the distance between them. He placed his right arm behind her back and used his left to dump her body into his grasp. Her head fell loosely against his elbow.

"Kaytryn!" he said once more as he looked down into her closed eyes. He began kicking towards the stairs on the edge of the pool. When he was nearly halfway there, he looked down at Kaytryn again. Before he looked away from her, a thick jet of water shot out of Kaytryn's mouth and struck Draco squarely between his eyes.

"KAYTRYN!" Draco shouted. His voice bordered on the level of shrieking. She giggled and threw her arms around his neck. He dragged her over to the side of the pool and lifted her up to sit on the edge. Standing in the shallow water below her, he stood between her legs, resting an elbow on each of her knees. Her sopping dress robes clung to his abdomen.

"Now Kaytryn, was that necessary?" he asked, sounding as though he was speaking to a young child rather than someone three years his elder. Kaytryn smiled broadly, showing perfect teeth, and nodded.

"And it was funny!" she laughed.

"Kaytryn," Draco attempted a different approach. "If we're going to have to spend all summer together, you're going to have to be nice. This is, after all, my house.

"If you think that's how it's going to work, Bud." Kaytryn reached down a pinched Draco's cheek." You've got another think coming."


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry this took so long. My beta forgot about it for more than a week. So its ALL her fault. She appologizes though. **

**What you recognize is JKR's, the rest is mine. There is a Princess Bride reference in there too.**

**Thanks to all of my reviewers. You all are great. At the release of the third chapter, I will start writing review review emails. If you would like these, leave a review with your email.**

**This is all for now**

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* * *

"I'm bored!" Kaytryn announced. In the nearly week and a half since Draco's arrival at the manor, Lucius hadn't issued the pair of teens any assignments other than staying out of their fathers' way. Draco had nearly exhausted the manor's resources in entertaining the easily amused but attention span-less Kaytryn. In fact, the only thing that continued to keep her entertained daily was watching the house elves feed the Blast Ended Skrewt that MacNair had procured and kept at the manor.

"What do you want to do?" Draco questioned. "Keiran and Corbin are swimming. We've played quidditch already today, our fathers are working in the dungeon, mum and the girls have the horses in Diagon Alley, and you've singed your eyebrows off again. They might not grow back if we play one more game of Exploding Snap. I'm sick of winning at chess and the skrewt doesn't get fed again for another few hours!" The pair sat in Draco's private library. Draco stretched across a dark couch while Kaytryn sprawled on the floor.

'Who said we have to stay here?" Kaytryn questioned, craning her neck to try to look at Draco. Draco considered the girl's question for a moment.

"No one, I suppose, but mum and the girls have the carriage," he finally replied.

"Draco, we're the children of Death Eaters. I, for one, learned to apparate when I was 15," Kaytryn said. She sat up and shot an imploring look at Draco.

"I was 13," Draco admitted. "So where are we going?" 

"Just go put on some sort of muggle-looking clothes and meet me back here in about 10 minutes. We're going to visit my best friend."

"Your best friend?" Draco questioned, but Kaytryn had already sprung to her feet and run from the room. Draco stared at the door until it clicked shut behind the girl. He then slowly stood and looked down at the robe he wore.

"Muggle looking?" he questioned to himself. Under the robe he had on black trousers and a forest green, short-sleeved polo shirt. Assuming they were muggle enough, he peeled off his robe and tossed it over the back of the couch for the house elves to deal with later. He ran his hands over his carefully gelled hair and then stretched his arms back behind his back. The polo shirt pulled tight across his sculpted chest. 

"Oooh!" A high-pitched female voice squealed from the doorway.

"Parkinson!" Draco spat. He pulled his arms down to his sides and spun to face the doorway.

"How dare you compare me to that," Kaytryn paused for a moment. Her voice had regained its low, husky quality, much different than Pansy's high- pitched shrieking. She ran her hand through her red, white-blonde, and brown striped hair. "Yeah, I'm going to have to go with Aunt Loretta's vacuous whore thought."

"Kaytryn, please. You sounded just like her when you squealed, you know," Draco insisted. He surveyed the girl in the doorway. She wore a dark red, floor length skirt; reminiscent of those Contessa Borgin routinely wore. Her black top looked like nothing more than a triangular piece of cloth held on by thin black strings. He couldn't help but notice how low the skirt fell on her hips or how the shirt, could it be called that, barely covered enough to be considered proper. Her hair fell just below her shoulder blades, resting on skin only a few shades darker than Draco's own. A sharp cough from the girl brought Draco's mind back to the library.

"I asked if you were ready to go!" Kaytryn insisted. Draco nodded mutely and ran his hands over his hair again.

"Do you have your wand?" Kaytryn questioned.

"Yes, but I'm still more than a year away from being of age," Draco replied. Kaytryn produced a slip of paper from somewhere inside her skirts and passed it to Draco.

"We're heading to a place where ministry wards and sensors aren't effective at all. Don't worry about being underage if it comes down to really needing to use magic," Kaytryn replied.

"Cor, Kaytryn, where does your best friend live?" Draco questioned, running his fingers over the wand in the holster on his right hip, angled for a left cross-draw.

"At the other end of those coordinates," Kaytryn nodded at the paper in Draco's hand. "Now if you're quite through memorizing them, let's go!" Draco nodded and handed the paper back to Kaytryn. It promptly burst into flames and she smiled sweetly at Draco as the ashes fell from her fingertips.

"Shall we then?" she questioned. Draco nodded and the pair disappeared with two soft pops. Seconds later, they reappeared in a heap in a floor in London.

"Kaytryn, why did you give me the same coordinates you were going to use?" Draco questioned. He had landed directly yon the floor with Kaytryn on top of him. He felt as though her knee was in his ear and if her elbow had fallen a few centimeters more to the right, Draco's ability to have children would have been in question.

"Or you could have waited a bit before apparating," Kaytryn argued. The thick cloth of her skirt stretched tight across Draco's face as she struggled to stand. When she stood at Draco's side and he could see again, he spoke.

"Where might this best friend of yours be?" he asked. He and Kaytryn were the room's only two occupants. Kaytryn shrugged smoothly.

"Asleep. I'll have to wake him," she said. She turned and walked to a screened off section at the far end of the windowless room. Only after Kaytryn disappeared behind the screen did Draco bother with standing. He looked carefully around the low-ceilinged room. A large metal box nearly Draco's size stood in the corner across from the screen. It was black with a handle on the front. It hummed loudly. In fact, the box's buzzing was the only sound in the room. In the corner diagonal from the screen were two over stuffed black armchairs and a matching black leather couch situated around a smaller silver box on a black wooden table. The fluffy carpet under Draco's feet was grey in color, with the walls only a few shades darker. Positioned behind Draco was the room's only door, made of the same wood as the table. Draco heard a loud banging from behind the screen.

"Seth! Wake up!" Kaytryn's voice rang out over the humming box in the other corner.

"SE-ETH" Kaytryn screeched again.

"Geeze, Kaytryn," Draco called. "You're trying to wake your friend. Not every dead body around here." A loud creak answered Draco's statement.

"Seth!" Kaytryn said. A low growl answered Kaytryn.

"How are you?" Kaytryn asked, plowing on despite her friend's obvious displeasure at being woken.

"Kayti," Draco finally heard a deep voice say.

"Seth," Kaytryn said one more time. Draco heard two loud sniffs from behind the curtain.

"Kayti, how sweet of you!" Seth exclaimed.

"What?" Kaytryn asked, clearly not knowing what she had done.

"You brought me breakfast!" Seth insisted.

"No Seth, his name is Draco. You may not under any circumstances even taste him!" Kaytryn cried.

"Spoil my fun!" Seth pouted. Draco nervously tucked a loose strand of hair behind his ear.

"You're only kidding, right?" he called. Kaytryn finally stepped out from behind the screen.

"Right Kaytryn?" he asked again. Kaytryn smiled sweetly but before she could say anything, Seth joined her on the other side of the screen. He was nearly six and a half feet tall with a broad chest. He was definitely one of the most muscular people Draco had ever seen. Seth's clear- complexioned skin was quite the same shade as Draco's own, but his hair fell in lose, thick, deep-brown waves about his shoulders. Dark green-blue eyes stood out like gems in his pale face. He wore a pair of black linen drawstring pants that hung low on his hips and not much else save a shiny cross-shaped burn scar on his left upper arm.

"Seth, I'd like you to meet the guy I'm staying with all summer, Draco Malfoy. Kiddo, meet Seth, my best friend," Kaytryn said, pointing to each of the boys as she introduced him. Seth moved across the floor to just in front of Draco more quickly and silently than Draco thought humanly possible. Seth held out his hand to Draco and Draco took it. The man's hand was deathly cold and clammy on Draco's. Then Seth began applying pressure and proved he had the strongest grip of anyone Draco had ever met. This included Crabbe Sr., Goyle Sr. and the entire Durmstrang Quidditch team.

"Seth!" Kaytryn cried, just as Seth's grip on Draco's hand began to border on unbearable. "Leave him alone! He's only human!"

"Spoil my fun!" Seth pouted again. His thin pale lips pulled into a frown at his best friend. Suddenly, Draco knew exactly where Kaytryn had picked up that particular mannerism.

"Along with not tasting him you may not hurt him unless under the pre- approved circumstances that exist for all boys," Kaytryn said, looking at Seth like a mother looks at a misbehaving toddler. Seth finally dropped Draco's hand and turned to fully face Kaytryn. Draco was beginning to get more than a little annoyed by the overgrown, muscle bound idiot Kaytryn called a best friend. Kaytryn ignored Seth and turned to Draco.

"I'm sorry Draco, I didn't intend for a simple visit to Seth to turn into a preternatural pissing contest," Kaytryn said sincerely. She reached up and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Draco cried. He couldn't believe Seth and Kaytryn had caught him so of guard. "Preternatural?"

"It means supernatural, not in the normal course of nature," Seth offered with a smooth shrug. Draco felt like slapping his forehead, but, in keeping his emotions schooled into the typical unreadable Malfoy mask, he refrained.

"I know what it means," Draco said coolly. "So the question is, what are you?" He shot Seth a questioning glare. The same glare, in fact, which had been known to make first years cry.

"I'm a," Seth began to say. Before he could finish his sentence, Draco interrupted.

"Are you a vampire?" He questioned. "And if you are, why are you awake in the middle of the day?"

"I am awake because of an infernal knocking on my coffin lid courtesy of certain people named Kaytryn who insist on taking advantage of the fact that I can live during the day," Seth spat, glaring playfully at Kaytryn. Kaytryn returned his glare with a sweet smile and a shrug.

"What's the use of having the power if you're not going to use it?" she questioned. "And besides, we're bored."

"You're bored," Draco corrected. "I was quite content with reading in the library." Kaytryn's eyebrows knitted together in a small scowl.

"I have a bad case of just finished. N.E.W.T.'s bibliophobia," the girl insisted. She crossed her arms across her chest.

"I just finished O.W.L.'s. Got second in my year with 13 in fact, and I'm not afraid of books," Draco objected, wrinkling his nose at Kaytryn as though she was a particularly slimy species of slug. Or Longbottom.

"N.E.W.T.'s are a completely different story!" Kaytryn declared. "I was 8th in my class and only managed to scrape out four of them!"

"That's because you don't care," Seth muttered. Kaytryn glared at him and opened her mouth to say something, but he cut her off. "As amusing as the pair of you are, I do believe you could have argued at home, so please tell me you've come for a better reason than to make me listen to you bitch about books." Kaytryn smiled at her friend and started towards one of the couches in the corner.

"So if you'd tried, how well could you have done?" Draco questioned.

"Drop it, Draco," Kaytryn snapped. "You weren't perfect either!"

"Damn sight closer than you though," Draco muttered. "And the girl who beat me is a prefect, manages the school Quidditch team, and doesn't do much else besides study! I, on the other hand, am a prefect, start for both the school and house Quidditch teams, and," Draco trailed off for a moment as he settled into a seat on the black leather couch next to Kaytryn.

"Lemme guess!" Kaytryn broke in. "You have to keep the line of girls at your door every night satisfied."

"No, actually, Kaytryn, I haven't been with anyone since my last girlfriend was murdered before Christmas." Kaytryn's eyes widened at Draco's statement. "I was actually just going to say that I spent nearly five weeks in the hospital wing because someone tried to kill me and botched it up!" Kaytryn's jaw dropped slightly and she nervously tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Who?" she finally asked. "I'll kill them!"

"William Sanguinis," Draco replied. "Well, actually, he put me under Imperius and then instructed me to empty the contents of the first year potions cupboard into my stomach. I lived though."

"Obviously," Seth snorted. He had curled up in an armchair so quietly Draco hadn't realized he'd moved until he spoke. Draco glared at him before turning back to Kaytryn. Kaytryn's hands were balled into fists and her eyes had narrowed.

"Kaytryn, it's okay. Sanguinis died in May. He was in our fathers' business and you know how dangerous that can be," Draco said. He could see the tension slide from her shoulders. She uncurled her fists and placed her hands primly in her lap.

"Good," she said as though she was speaking about the outcome of a Quidditch match rather than someone's life.

"So, Kayti, have you watched our show lately?" Seth questioned. He pressed a button on a piece of thin black plastic and instantly colors began dancing across one side of the box that the sofa and chairs were situated around. Intrigued, Draco watched the screen and realized the colors were actually tiny people.

"No," Kaytryn said. "No TVs at the manor. Has anything interesting happened lately?"

"What's a TV?" Draco interrupted. Both Kaytryn and Seth looked at him like he had grown a third head. Kaytryn recovered her power of speech first.

"He's very pureblooded," Kaytryn explained to Seth before turning to fully face Draco. "It's a form of muggle entertainment where, through the use of concepts I'm not in the mood to explain right now, pre-recorded moving pictures are shown, as you can see on the screen."

"Electricity and cable?" Draco guessed. Kaytryn nodded. "Yeah, someone gave Lucius The Pureblood's Guide To Understanding Muggles and Mudbloods, for Christmas. I was bored on holiday, so I read i," the boy explained. "They talked about television in it, but not TV."

"Tele-Vision!" Kaytryn insisted, smirking at Draco. She turned back to Seth. "So what's been happening on the show?" Draco settled back into the rich black leather of the couch and stared attentively at the screen, lending a partial ear to Kaytryn and Seth's conversation. Thanks to the mesmerizing screen, he barely noticed Kaytryn's left had position itself on his right knee and begin fidgeting with a string on his pants.

"So, uh, Tommy is still after Tina," Seth began.

"Tina still holding out?" Kaytryn questioned. Seth nodded and ran his hand through his dark brown hair.

"Derek, in spite of Arin, is being super jealous," Seth replied. "I think Tina might still want him, so she's being super conscious of what he thinks."

"Which is what, exactly?" Kaytryn prompted. Seth shook his head.

"You really haven't watched in a while, have you?" Seth said. "Well, the group that doesn't want Tina to be with Tommy says it will only cause Tommy to use Tina to get what he wants. Then he'll be done with her."

"And the side that supports it?" Kaytryn asked. Her hand hadn't yet moved from Draco's leg.

"Well, Devin supports it, as does Chance. And Chance is sleeping with both Kaisa and Corrine, so he holds their opinions. I tend to think Kaisa would support it anyway, though. And Kaisa and Chance could easily do something to Derek. I wouldn't put it past them either. And without Derek, I'm not so sure Arin would last, so Tommy's supporters would suddenly outnumber Tina's. By a lot."

"And that would be bad," Kaytryn interjected. Her grip on Draco's knee had tightened considerably. Seth nodded solemnly.

"That would be very bad. Tina's only supporters would then be William and Tshaya. While William is definitely a snarky son of a bitch, I don't think snarky is what's necessary to stop Devin from doing the jealous rage thing and killing Tina." Kaytryn's hand froze in a tight grip on Draco's knee.

"Tina CAN'T die!" She insisted. Draco carefully rubbed the back of her hand to get her to let go. She released his leg and grabbed his hand instead, lacing his fingers through hers.

"Technically, no, but you know how Tommy and Devin are," Seth said. Kaytryn's grip on Draco's hand tightened. He began moving his thumb in comforting circles on the girls thumb. The people on the screen ceased to amuse him, so he turned his full attention to the conversation.

"Could Tshaya save Tina?" Draco questioned.

"Could, probably. Would? Well, if maybe. She doesn't act unless she wants to, usually," Seth explained.

"Tshaya's more one to offer advice than action, and advice at a very high price. Then after things happen, she just laughs and says 'I told you so,'" Kaytryn added.

"Sounds about like this girl I know, Contessa Borgin," Draco mused. "But if she wants to be, she can be bought into action." If Draco noticed the bright red color Kaytryn's face suddenly turned at his mention of Contessa Borgin, he didn't say anything.

"Tshaya will occasionally take action for herself," Seth said.

"Contessa doesn't even allow people to know she exists unless she wants to. Very few people know her," Draco said.

"So when is Tina supposed to give Tommy her answer?" Kaytryn asked. She loosened her grip on Draco's hand but didn't let it go.

"The July 11th episode. It's a big hour long special," Seth explained.

"What time?" Kaytryn questioned.

"Seven," Seth replied. "You're both invited to come watch as my guests. Kayti, you know what to do." Kaytryn nodded.

"Yup, got it," she said, inching a bit closer to Draco. 

"But now, to give you fair warning," Seth said, sitting up in his chair. The skin on his face had paled to the point of near translucence and seemed to stretch tautly across the bones under it.

"You're hungry," Kaytryn guessed. The distance between herself and Draco was suddenly non-existent.

"No fair hiding!" Draco hissed, glaring down at the girl. "I don't want to be vamp food any more than you do.

"Then you may want to leave now," Seth said, his voice growing thin and reedy. Strangely claw-like hands clung to the arms of his chair. Without thinking, Draco tossed his arm around Kaytryn's shoulders and apparated them directly back to his room at the manor.

"How'd you do that?" Kaytryn asked when they appeared just to the left of Draco's bed in his room.

"Didn't much want to be vamp food, and I've been able to apparate two people since last summer, so I brought us both back here," Draco explained. Kaytryn stepped away from the protective arm slung around her shoulders and took a seat on the end of the large four-poster bed. She adjusted her top and the looked up at Draco through wide stormy eyes.

"That was quite possibly one of the most interesting visits to Seth yet," the girl announced.

"Interesting, how?" Draco questioned. "We argued and then you and he blathered on about some stupid TV show until your best friend nearly ate us," Draco stretched his arms behind his head and then shot an imploring look at the girl.

"If you had only listened," Kaytryn mused.

"I did. And I heard nothing of importance," Draco insisted. He stomped around the bed and sprawled across it. Kaytryn turned slightly so her back was against one of the posts and she was mostly facing Draco.

"Can I trust you?" Kaytryn asked, cocking her had to the side inquisitively.

"What?" Draco replied.

"It's a simple question, Draco," Kaytryn said. "Can I trust you? If I tell you something, can you refrain from running off to our daddies with what you know?"

"Kaytryn," Draco said and then paused. He thought of telling her that between Barrett's death, Finley's death, and his near murder, there was no way he would tell his father anything. He thought of telling her of his distrust of Death Eaters and he thought of telling her about his growing confusion on where to turn and who was really right. Instead, he ran his fingers over his hair and uttered six simple words. "Yes, Kaytryn, you can trust me."

"Voldemort is about two deaths away from gaining the support of London's vampire and lycanthrope communities. Now, I don't know about you, but I think that's a pretty scary thought, especially since London happens to have one of the world's largest lycanthrope communities," Kaytryn said.

"You're kidding, right?" Draco questioned. He rolled onto his left side and propped his head on his hands, shooting and inquisitive look at Kaytryn.

"On all accounts, no," Kaytryn said. "There are three people right now standing between the vampires, the lycanthropes and Voldemort. Luckily, those three people are the master vampire of the city Celestina, the Ulfric, or king wolf, Derek, and the Nimir-ra, or leopard queen, Arin."

"So the TV shows characters," Draco paused.

"Not really TV show characters at all, but it makes a rather nice code," Kaytryn explained. Draco nodded his agreement.

"So why aren't Celestina, Derek and Arin up for joining Voldey?" Draco questioned. Kaytryn gave a smooth shrug.

"Celestina is kind of old fashioned. She wants vamps and humans to stay separate. Ultimately, Derek has to go along with whatever Celestina decides. But he's pushing for staying away from Voldey simply because many of the pack are fully functioning members of society. Joining Voldey may expose what they are and endanger them."

"Like refusing the Dark Lord won't?" Draco muttered. Kaytryn shrugged smoothly again.

"Derek, Arin, and, in fact, the majority of lycanthropes are muggles. If all goes according to plan, things could eventually get really, really, messy," Kaytryn said.

"How did muggles, even muggle lycanthropes get mixed up with the Dark Lord?" Draco questioned. Kaytryn shrugged again.

"Tshaya Borgin, your friend Contessa's mum, is their resident witch for the pack, so they know a bit about magic. Due to Derek's ties to Celestina, Tshaya knows a fair amount about the vampires. Somehow, through all of that, Voldemort found the vampires and they've been in negotiations ever since," Kaytryn explained in a way that didn't at all.

"So you're saying you don't have a clue," Draco said dryly.

"Exactly what I'm saying," Kaytryn laughed.

"So what do all of the other people you mentioned have to do with anything?" Draco posed what he hoped was amore answerable question.

"Arin is Derek's girlfriend and the leopard queen. She is against joining Voldemort because she's fairly certain he'll use the vamps and lycanthropes as expendable commodities to get what he wants and when he gets it, he'll probably kill them all," Kaytryn said.

"Smart girl, that one," Draco muttered.

"Yeah, she really is. She also supports Celestina in the most extreme sort of way, because she's tied to Devin. If Celestina ever gets staked, Arin is in Derek's shoes with a much less desirable master."

"Master?" Draco questioned.

"Celestina can call Derek and any of the wolves at her will to do her biding. Not a bad deal because Celestina is mostly old and set in her ways and she makes her vampire underlings do what little bidding she has. Arin is in the same situation only with Devin, who can call leopards, instead of Celestina. But we'll cover Devin momentarily."

"Call?" Draco asked.

"It's a power some of the older vampires get. They acquire an animal to call. Celestina's is the wolf. Devin gets leopards. And by call, I mean they can summon real as well as lycanthropic types of these animals to wherever they are. Also, with the lycanthropic variety, they can cause the lycanthrope to shape shift even without a full moon."

"So you're saying if Celestina gets staked, and Devin joins up with Voldey, then not only will Voldey have any vampires that stick with Devin, but he'll also have a full group, pack, whatever, of wereleopards at his finger tips that Devin can make change on command?" Draco asked. He blinked twice, trying to grasp the gravity of the situation.

"Pard. And yes, that's exactly what I'm saying," Kaytryn said.

"Devin needs to be eliminated then," Draco replied, a tone of reasonability in his voice that made killing Devin sound as easy as flying.  
  
"Draco, do you realize what you just said?" Kaytryn asked.

"I said Devin needs to be eliminated. As in staked. Or burned. Or something," Draco said, looking at Kaytryn.

"Draco, darling," Kaytryn cooed, looking sweetly down at Draco like he was brainless. "How old do you think Seth is?"

"Six hundred forty two," Draco replied evenly. Kaytryn's grayish blue eyes widened before she blinked twice quickly down at the boy.

"Um, you're off by about 20 years, but that's still absolutely phenomenal. How did you figure that one out?" Kaytryn questioned. "I thought Seth was about 400 years younger than he really is for the first year I knew him. He's exceptionally good at hiding his power."

"After I found out that he was a vampire, I," Draco paused for a minute, considering exactly how he knew Seth's age. "I dunno. I just sorta felt that he was probably around 642."

"Well. Okay. So Seth is 664. He's third in line to be master of the city. Do you realize how old that means Devin and Celestina are?" Kaytryn questioned. Draco shrugged smoothly, as well as he could lying down and shook his head at the girl.

"I'd have to meet them," Draco replied. "Maybe I'd be able to feel them too."

"Devin is around 800. We think Celestina is about 1200 years old, but she's better at hiding things like that than Seth is. Devin just sorta flaunts his power so there isn't a question as to the fact that he's about 800. Do you realize how nearly impossible it would be for us to kill an 800 year old vampire?" Kaytryn asked. "Have you even tried to kill a vampire that just got vamped last week?"

"Well." Draco paused for a second. "Well no."

"They're damned near impossible to kill. They just don't die twice," Kaytryn said. Draco began examining his fingernails.

"Must alert Dumbledore. But I have seen Potter in broad daylight," he muttered. Kaytryn thumped his shoulder rather soundly.

"Not funny, Draco Malfoy," she spat. Draco smiled sheepishly then shrugged.

"I thought it was," he laughed.

"Yes. Well. Anyway, It would be nearly impossible for us to kill Devin without dying also," Kaytryn said.

"Nearly impossible isn't the same as impossible though," Draco objected.

"Like mostly dead isn't the same as all dead?" Kaytryn questioned. "Either way, that's how we'd end up." Kaytryn's attempt at humor was lost on the thoroughly pureblooded Draco.

"Anyway, the point I'm trying to make here is that killing Devin isn't a possibility!" Kaytryn insisted.

"And the point I'm trying to make is that even if it's not a possibility, it would still solve our problems faster than anything else I could think of," Draco said.

"Temporary fix," Kaytryn muttered. Draco sprang off of the bed.

"Temporary fix until we could find something more permanent," he objected. He began pacing around his room furiously.

"How many supporters does Devin have?" Draco questioned.

"Devin rules by fear. Because of this, he has lots of supporters. Or at least vamps who would work for him to keep their hearts and heads in place," Kaytryn replied. She moved to the center of the bed so she could watch Draco's quick circuit around the room.

"Are any as powerful as he is?" Draco asked, not pausing in his pacing.

"Bertrand is the next closest furious Devin supporter," Kaytryn replied. "He's fifth in line after a female vamp named Elizabeth. William is sixth."

"And how old is Bertrand?" Draco asked.

"He's only about 300. He's a baby as far as master vampires are concerned, and Seth doesn't think he'll get any more powerful. He's also a terrible leader, too busy groveling at Devin's feet and such," Kaytryn explained.

"So how is killing Devin a temporary fix again?" Draco asked. "Especially if there isn't anyone to take his place. Does anyone else have the power to call leopards?"

"No," Kaytryn replied.

"So Arin and her pard are free if Devin dies." Draco paused for a moment. "Again."

"Well, I guess they would be," Kaytryn said.

"So they could support Celestina openly, where as I guess right now, they have to be slightly quiet about it," Draco said.

"Right," Kaytryn agreed. Her head turned from side to side as she watched the still pacing Draco.

"What about this Chance person you mentioned?" Draco asked.

"Chance is a werewolf. He's the Bolverk of the pack, actually, which means he does Derek's dirty work because Derek doesn't like to do it himself. He's a nasty ass son of a bitch, but the wolves like Derek much better, so without Devin, Chance wouldn't have hope of inciting the riot he's anticipating," Kaytryn said.

"So Devin is the key to smoothing all of this over. Hopefully by the next flashpoint, Voldemort will loose interest in the vampires or something," Draco said.

"Like THAT would ever happen," Kaytryn muttered. "But you definitely are onto something with killing Devin."

"So what do you think would be the best way to kill him? Better yet, when am I ever going to see him?" Draco questioned.

"Did you catch the very last part of my conversation with Seth?" Kaytryn asked. Draco stopped and leaned against the outside of the post of his bed Kaytryn had earlier been sitting against.

"Something about the one hour long special," Draco replied.

"It was an invitation to the meeting where the vampires of London show up full force to meet with Voldemort, and Celestina gives him her answer," Kaytryn said. "Well, as long as we polyjuice ourselves. And I'm not Severus Snape's niece for nothing. I have polyjuice ready for situations like this."

"Kaytryn, this is brilliant!" Draco cried. "We can enact our plan then, if Devin will be there."

"Oh, Devin will be there. And he'll probably try to cause a stink too," Kaytryn said with a nod. "But Draco, if I may ask, what plan?"

"I don't know yet," Draco replied. "That's what we need to come up with. So what would be the best and quickest way to kill him?"

"Fire," Kaytryn said. "But at the same time, it would need to be a very small, very hot, VERY contained fire so we didn't kill every vamp and half of the humans in the room."

"So just a quick flash and then its gone?" Draco asked. "Sort of like an Incendiary spell?"

"Yes, but according to my DADA professor, Incendiary spells don't get hot enough to burn vamps before the vamps can put themselves out or remove the burning clothing," Kaytryn said. "They're quite useless. Especially on a master vampire as old as Devin."

"And its night and we don't want to kill everyone so we can't do the sunlight thing," Draco said.

"Right," Kaytryn agreed. "And staking is too up close and personal."

"As is beheading," Draco added. Kaytryn nodded.

"So fire it is then," Kaytryn said.

"Fire it would be," Draco muttered.

"We need a firebug," Kaytryn grumbled.

"A what?" Draco questioned.

"A firebug," Kaytryn replied. "A person who can call fire and fire of all types if they're good. Like the person who started the fire in the Three Broomsticks most likely. There are a few around, not exactly the most rare of powers, but I don't know of any."

"I do," a new voice said from the doorway.

"You do?" Kaytryn spun to face Astrid so quickly she nearly fell off the bed.

"How long have you been standing there?" Draco demanded, taking care of the more important issue first.

"Only long enough to hear you say you needed someone who could call fire. Not long enough to hear what for or anything," Astrid replied. "But for future reference, silencing charms are good to make all sorts of noise silent." She arched one eyebrow suggestively at the pair.

"Shove off, Astrid," Draco muttered.

"Draco, be nice. She knows someone who could hopefully make the kind of fire we're looking for," Kaytryn admonished the younger boy.

"Could being the operative word," Astrid replied. "Could if she wasn't underage." "Not a problem," Kaytryn said. "We just bring her here."

"Um. NO!" Astrid objected. "She and prince pureblood don't get along." The tiny girl shot a pointed look at her older brother.

"We don't get along because she's a smart arsed know it all. But she wouldn't survive a minute at the manor. And I want to have the satisfaction of finally beating her academically. Getting first place because she died just wouldn't be as much fun," Draco insisted.

"Do you really think she'd be able to do this?" Kaytryn questioned, looking from one Malfoy child to the other.

"You know the witch that you were talking about who set the Three Broomsticks fire?" Astrid asked. Kaytryn nodded, and Astrid took that as a sign to continue. "She and my friend are one and the same."

"Seth's!" Draco cried.

"What about Seth's?" Kaytryn asked.

"Who is Seth?" Astrid asked.

"Seth is my best friend," Kaytryn replied.

"She could do magic at Seth's as long as you were there to keep Seth from eating her. That is, she could do it as long as she agreed, but she's not always one to break the rules," Draco suggested. Astrid raised her eyebrows at her brother.

"She's not one for getting caught like you are," the 11-year old objected.

"Shove it, Astrid," Draco said.

"And besides," Astrid plowed on, despite her brothers command. "Since when do you like her well enough to get her to do anything for you?"

"I'm not going to," Draco said.

"You're not?" Astrid asked.

"Nope, she wouldn't do anything for me. You are," the boy laughed. "You and Kaytryn."

"And what if I don't want to?" Astrid questioned. Kaytryn turned to the little girl with a serious look on her face.

"Ignore your brother, Astrid. I'm asking for your help. Will you please contact your friend and see if you can get her to meet us in the Leaky Cauldron within the next two days so we can go to Seth's and try to start this fire making process," Kaytryn said. Her voice didn't waver as she stared steadily at the little girl.

"Alright Kaytryn, for you, I'll owl my friend and see what I can talk her into doing," Astrid said. She turned from Kaytryn and smirked at her brother, who, in turn, glared back at her.

"So why were you up here anyway?" Draco asked his little sister.

"Message from Lucius," Astrid replied. She leaned against the doorway and crossed her arms across her chest.

"Well then, let's have it," Draco insisted.

"He finally has an assignment for the pair of you," the girl said.

"And that is?" Kaytryn asked.

"The daughter of one of his new business associates is here for the night while our fathers prepare something else for something big happening sometime soon."

"Way to be detailed there Astrid," Draco laughed.

"The assignment is that the pair of you have to entertain the daughter and her boyfriend," Astrid said.

"When?" Kaytryn asked.

"Tonight," Astrid replied. "Well. You're supposed to report to the entrance hall in an hour, ready to go to out to Wizarding London to find something to do to entertain yourselves for a while. Someone's father has decided that the pair of you have been cooped up here for too long."

"Fair enough," Draco said, nodding at his little sister.

"So I suppose this is where I leave you to go owl my friend to beg for assistance for you all," Astrid said.

"Yes," Draco agreed. He turned the path of his pacing to the armoire in the corner. Astrid nodded at the pair of them and then ducked backwards out of the doorway, pulling the door closed as she went.

"Well, your sister has solved at least that problem," Kaytryn said. Draco nodded his agreement from the armoire.

"Tell me about the rest of Celestina's allies," Draco requested. Kaytryn nodded.

"Besides Seth, Celestina's really powerful supporters are William and Tshaya. William is an interesting character. He supports Celestina because if Voldemort gains power there won't be any more muggles to play with. Muggles amuse him a little too much. Unfortunately, he may be heading to America soon."

"And what about Tshaya?" Draco asked.

"Tshaya is 100% against supporting Voldemort, actually, because in both muggle and magical history it is a recorded fact that when genocide starts, gypsies die," Kaytryn said. Draco shook his head and leaned further into the armoire to rifle through the pants stacked on the lowest shelf.

"But now I'm off to watch the elves feed the skrewt and then get ready for whatever we're going to do tonight," Kaytryn said. She stood and took several steps towards the door before pausing and turning back to Draco.

"What ARE we going to do tonight?"

"Good question," Draco replied. "Any ideas?"

"Knockturn Alley after dark is one of those places every mother warns their child not to go. My mum died when I was twelve, so no one warned me and I can attest to the fact that the warning comes to prevent teenagers from having fun."

"So Knockturn Alley it is then?" Draco questioned.

"Certainly," Kaytryn said. "So I suggest wearing something. I dunno. Outrageous is the word that comes to mind. And robes aren't necessary this time of year, and especially at night." Draco turned to look at the girl. She quickly blew him a kiss.

"I'll be back in an hour," she promised, and with that, she hurried from the room. Draco watched her go before stepping away from the armoire and sinking onto the bed. He drew his knees to his chin and wrapped his arm around his legs, a million thoughts chasing themselves through his head. Most of them centered around one girl with a big mouth, a tendency to speak her mind under any circumstances, and striped hair. After a week and a half, Kaytryn's actions and words caught him off guard on occasion. She was more open minded and more affectionate than any of his friends, which was sometimes a bit unnerving. Then again, he used the word friends loosely. Most of the people near his age in Slytherin weren't intelligent enough to be credited as friends. Crabbe and Goyle were minions, if, after the Potion's O.W.L. incident Crabbe could even still be counted a minion. Parkinson was simply annoying and Karen and Taylor were too caught up in chasing the Gryffindor-loving Blaise. He still couldn't fathom Millicent on any level higher than Crabbe and Goyle, so as far as friends went, he supposed he didn't have any. Kaytryn was one of the only people since Finley he considered an equal. Contessa would have been in the running, but her sheer creepiness and love of shadows cut her out for friend status. He supposed, indeed, that Kaytryn was his only friend.

"But she's bloody hot!" he mused. Yes, there was that minor factor. Kaytryn was undeniably one of the most attractive girls he had ever met. With her thin, willowy frame and penchant for wearing slightly revealing outfits, Draco was well aware of the girl, always. The way her wet dress robes clung to her the first night in the pool hadn't yet escaped his mind and had been fuel for more than one late-night day dream.

"So she's good looking, she's highly intelligent, and she's staying here and forced to be in my company all summer. Why shouldn't I have a little fun out of this deal?" he wondered.

* * *

_Dear Hermione,_  
  
Astrid paused and looked down at the beginning of the letter she had written. Chewing thoughtfully on the end of her quill, she considered how best to proceed in petitioning one of her closest, but older friends to help her brother and object of her brother's affection in whatever hair- brained scheme they had come up with now.

Remembering she was a Gryffindor, she figured that honesty was probably the best way to go, so she placed the tip of the quill back to the parchment and started the letter again.  
  
_ Hey girl, how are you? I'm doing alright. Is your summer going well so far? Mine is rather boring. Life at the manor has been uneventful thus far. I think, however, that this may be about to change and I need your help in making the change.  
_

_ One of father's business associates and his two children Kaytryn and Corbin are spending the summer at the manor. To keep them out of trouble, father assigned one of the kids to each of my brothers. Kaytryn has been assigned to Draco's care. I say she's been assigned to his care like she's not 2 and a half years older than him. Luckily, they've gotten along fabulously, and I think she may actually be something of a good influence on him.  
_

_ Now at this point, please pick the letter back up and keep reading. I really haven't lost it. I walked into Draco's room today in time to hear part of a conversation between the pair of them where they were discussing their need for a highly specific type of fire. I'm not sure exactly what this fire would be used for, but they're dead set on getting it made, and seemed to think the fate of the world or something could ride on its existence. Kaytryn actually made the statement that they needed a firebug like the one who set the fire at the Three Broomsticks.  
_

_ If you hadn't guessed, this is where you come in. Draco, of course, doesn't like the idea of your helping out with making this fire, but my opinion is why have someone like the person who set the Three Broomsticks fire when you can have the actual person, right?  
_

_ I know you haven't practiced much with the fire making, so all I'm asking is for you to meet me and Kaytryn at the Leaky Cauldron tomorrow at 3 so she can discuss the specifics of the fire they want and you can see what you may be able to do for them. We promise to leave prince pureblood at home. Also, Kaytryn says not to worry, she has a place where you can make the fire and use magic and all of that good stuff without being affected by the ministry wards and sensors. And Draco agrees that the place is safe. If you think this is some big hoax to get you expelled, I'd be happy to steal Draco's wand. You can use it and make the supposed prank backfire. But they're being a bit to serious for this to be a prank, I think.  
_

_ So hopefully I'll see you tomorrow at the Leaky Cauldron at 3. If you need transportation, just send word with Cassie, and I'll arrange something for you.  
_

_ And besides, even if you can't make the fire, or decide it's too risky or whatever, wouldn't it be great to see me once more?  
  
A. Astrid Malfoy  
_  
Astrid smiled down at the letter and blew across her slowly drying signature. Kaytryn had stopped by her room to set and time and ask her to write the letter. She also wanted to know exactly who she was supposed to be spending the night with. The tiny girl called her owl, Cassie, down from her perch and fastened the letter to her ankle.

"Take this straight to Hermione Granger and come straight back with her reply, okay girl?" Astrid asked. The owl hooted softly and nipped at its owner's ear. Astrid smiled and smoothed the great bird's feathers. The owl turned and flew out the window before immediately rocketing up into the clouds over the manor. Astrid smiled to herself as she turned towards the door to go find a front row seat for the fireworks she hoped would take place when her brother met his companions for the night.


	3. Chapter 3

I said I would start sending review reviews with this chapter. I lied. I just dont have time for that. I barely have time to write the fic itself. Please know that if you have specific questions, Ill try to email you personally, otherwise, just thanks a ton for your reviews. I dont own them JKR does.

"Ready?" Kaytryn questioned. She appeared in the doorway to Draco's room. Draco turned form his spot halfway between his bed and the armoire.

"Guess not," the girl muttered. She leaned against the right side of the doorway, allowing her right hand to snake up above her head. Draco looked around him at the clothes covering everything. He had more clothes than Kaytryn had ever seen, even after living in a dorm room with two other girls for seven years.

"What are we going to be doing?" Draco asked.

"So you can plan your outfit accordingly?" Kaytryn questioned. Draco nodded furiously and turned back to his closet.

"We'll figure out specifically what we're doing when we get there," Kaytryn replied.

"Great lot of help that is!" Draco shrieked. Kaytryn shook her head at the boy.

"Hang on a minute, I'll be right back," Kaytryn insisted. She disapparated with a soft pop.

"Bloody nut case, that one," Draco muttered at the empty space Kaytryn had previously occupied. He tossed the pair of pants he had just picked up onto the bed. Then he turned and started towards his closet, hoping to find something suitable in there. A pop sounded in the doorway.

"Put these on!" Kaytryn insisted from the spot she had just appeared in.

"What?" Draco asked, turning to face the girl.

"I said put these on!" Kaytryn insisted. She held a stack of carefully folded clothes out to the boy.

"Where'd these come from?" Draco asked. He stepped around the end of his bed to take the offered clothes from Kaytryn.

"Seth," Kaytryn said. "He said we could shrink them to fit you." Draco took the clothes from Kaytryn and laid them at the foot of his bed. Then he looked back at her. She adjusted the black top she still wore. The burgundy skirts she had on earlier had been replaced with tight, equally burgundy leather pants. The black high-heeled dragon hide boots on her feet increased her height by nine centimeters. Draco quickly grabbed the pants from the pile and put his back to Kaytryn. He slid the pants on and fastened them around his narrow hips. The too-big garment fell lower than the band of Draco's boxers.

"Sexy," Kaytryn muttered to herself. Draco arched one eyebrow at the girl. She pulled out her wand and fired a spell off at the pants Seth had lent her. The pants instantly shrunk to a level on a few steps looser than skintight.

"You know, boxer lines are highly unattractive," Kaytryn muttered as she observed the new, much tighter fit of the leather pants. She muttered another spell and suddenly Draco felt extremely free under the heavy leather.

"Kaytryn, those were pure silk! What did you do with them?" the boy asked.

"Vanished them," Kaytryn shrugged. "I'll buy you a new pair for Solstice." Draco shook his head at Kaytryn and reached for the pair of shirts lying on his bed. He pulled on the first, a heather-grey tank top. Before the fabric completely touched his skin on its own, Kaytryn shrunk it to pull across his finely muscled chest like a second skin.

"Must everything be so damned tight?" Draco questioned as he pulled on the second shirt. The long-sleeved button down shirt was the same deep green as the hangings around his bed.

"Mmmm," Kaytryn considered the request for a moment before shaking her head. Draco felt more than saw the grey shirt disappear from his body. The green shirt then tightened a bit and the top button flew away. Draco turned a slow circle, hands outstretched from his body as if asking for his companion's approval.

"You'll do," Kaytryn said, but moments later he felt his carefully gelled hair falling around his face in loose strands. Draco ran his hands through instead of over his hair. The pieces fell loosely around his face as he spun to glare at Kaytryn. Silver eyes showed between pieces of lighter silver hair.

"Unless you want me to throw you on your bed and have my way with you right now, you'll stop looking at me like that, find some shoes, and get ready to go meet our dates!" Kaytryn insisted. Draco silently weighed his options for a moment.

"The assignment is for Lucius," he reminded himself. "But the other assignment was to keep Kaytryn happy." He shook his head ad tried not to cringe at the thought of his freely-moving hair. He decided as he pulled his favorite black boots from under the end of his bed, however, that if not-gelled hair had that much of an effect on Kaytryn, he could learn to live without his imported, French styling products.

"Let's go, kiddo!" Kaytryn insisted as Draco tied his boots. "I'd hate to make our daddies mad." Draco nodded and set his holster on his right hip for a left cross draw. Kaytryn turned and walked out of the door. The height of the heels on her boots gave her posterior a rather mesmerizing motion that had Draco so entranced he didn't even notice the fact that her shirt was almost completely backless or the intricacies of the knot her striped hair had been charmed into.

"You can stop staring at my arse now," Kaytryn insisted as she turned to go down the last staircase to the predetermined meeting place.

"Kaytryn, I'm appalled!" Draco began.

"That I caught you?" Kaytryn interrupted. "Because you're most certainly guilty with no possible way to deny it," Draco shook his head at the girl's back.

"Are they here yet?" Kaytryn questioned. She stepped lightly onto the entrance hall floor.

"An elf just alerted me to their arrival. They should report to the hall shortly," Lucius' aristocratic voice sounded from the other side of the hall. "What are the pair of you planning for tonight's entertainment?"

"Knockturn Alley, father," Draco replied.

"Hasn't your mother warned you about Knockturn Alley after dark?" Lucius questioned. Draco nodded curtly

"Kaytryn's never warned her though, so we should be okay," the boy offered.

"I personally don't see the problem with it," Lucius said. "Much better than cavorting about with muggles."

"Or Gryffindors," Draco joked. Lucius offered a stern smile, the closest he usually let himself get to laughing at anyone other than Voldemort.

"Draco!" an all too familiar voice shrieked from the other side of the hall. Draco turned so that he could see both Lucius and Kaytryn at once.

"Why didn't you tell me? Parkinson!" he hissed loudly.

"Blame Astrid," Kaytryn joked.

"Draco!" Pansy squealed again. Draco felt a pair of arms around his waist.

"Pansy," he offered a solemn greeting. Kaytryn reached for Draco's hand and gave it a swift tug that served to pull him free of Pansy's grasp, towards her, and turn him around all in the same set of motions. He smoothly dropped his left arm around Kaytryn's shoulders and formally extended his right to his housemate.

"Nice to see you again. You remember Kaytryn Dolohov from when we were children, right?" Pansy accepted his handshake. Kaytryn, enjoying Draco's close proximity and the hilarity of the "rape me now," looks Pansy was shooting Draco that Draco either hadn't or was pretending not to notice, stepped into the boy's embrace and slid her right arm around his waist, looping her thumb through the right side belt loop of Draco's leather pants.

"Yes," came Pansy's curt reply. She turned an icy glare on Kaytryn and snapped her hand back to her side to show she wasn't planning on touching the older girl.

"Gonna introduce me?" an unfamiliar voice asked from behind her. Two hands appeared at her waist.

"Ryan, you know Draco already, and the girl is Kaytryn Dolohov," Pansy said. When it became apparent she wasn't going to introduce Ryan to Kaytryn, Draco spoke.

"Kaytryn, that's Ryan Kern, he was Hogwarts' Head Boy last year." Kaytryn smiled brightly at the boy.

"Nice to meet you," she said. She held out her left hand and he took it quite awkwardly from his position behind Pansy.

"Will you four be leaving soon?" Lucius questioned. The older man was quite amused by the amount of tension that had invaded the room at Pansy's arrival. Kaytryn wore a slightly amused look that most likely meant she was going to have more than her fair share of fun at the younger girl's expense concerning his oldest son. A light snorting laugh from the pedestal of the vase in the corner told him one of the younger children

agreed with him.

"Where are we going?" Pansy questioned.

"Knockturn Alley," Kaytryn replied evenly, her words accompanied by a smooth smirk. Lucius couldn't have been much prouder of his son's choice in girls this time. In fact, showing attraction to Kaytryn was the most redeeming thing Draco had done lately.

"I need to change," Pansy insisted. Ryan rolled his eyes from behind the girl.

"You may use the chamber just through those doors," Lucius advised the girl. Pansy simply nodded and grabbed a small bag she had dropped when she saw Draco and headed for the offered room.

"You all can leave when she's ready," Lucius said. His statement came as more of a command and less permission. Without giving the group a curfew, Lucius swept up the master staircase and towards his private study. Draco ran his hand through his hair. He was still unaccustomed to the action, but his hair fell perfectly into place.

"Do you need to change too?" Kaytryn asked Ryan. The boy looked down at his robe and peeled it off. Underneath he wore khakis and a Ravenclaw blue polo shirt.

"Not exactly the most Knockturn Alley worthy outfit, but it'll work. I'm not in a very leather-wearing mood tonight," Ryan said. He muttered a quick charm and his pants turned black.

"Better," Kaytryn muttered.

"I don't know that I've ever been in the mood to wear more leather than is found in Quidditch boots," Draco mused. Ryan shot a pointed look at Draco's pants.

"Thank Kaytryn," Draco muttered.

"Or not. My girlfriend is going to spend all night staring at your arse now," Ryan laughed.

"If you think it might help," Kaytryn offered, "you may stare at my arse. Draco finds it fun. You might too."

"No," Draco objected. Despite the fact that Pansy was no longer present, the pair hadn't let go of each other. "Less with the fun, more with the mesmerizing," Kaytryn smacked Draco playfully on his hand.

"It's nice to know that I have a mesmerizing arse," she laughed. "I've heard hot and cute. Even tight and fantastic, but never mesmerizing." The vase in the corner released an obnoxious sounding snort. Before Draco or Kaytryn could go root their eavesdropping sibling from the pedestal (Draco's in this case, as it was Astrid), an even more obnoxious noise sounded from the other side of the hall.

"I'm ready!" Pansy called. The trio turned to face her. She wore a black mini skirt that would have fit Astrid perfectly. As Pansy was nearly half a head taller than Astrid, and close to twice as wide through the hips, the skirt didn't have nearly its desired effect. She wore a florescent pink tube top that fit her upper body like Kaytryn thought Draco's pants should fit his lower body. Her hair had been charmed to a mass of ringlets all over her head, and she wore knee-high black high-heeled boots paired with pink fishnet stockings.

"So are we leaving you on the corner between Knockturn and Diagon or the one where Knockturn starts towards muggle London?" Kaytryn asked with perfectly believable mock seriousness. Kaytryn's words paired with the look on Pansy's face caused both Draco and the vase to burst into loud snickering laughter.

"Shall we?" Ryan questioned to diffuse the developing situation between his girlfriend and Draco's companion.

"We shall," Kaytryn agreed with a smirk at Pansy.

"Apparating to the Leaky Cauldron?" Draco questioned. Kaytryn and Ryan both nodded, while Pansy looked more than a little apprehensive about the situation.

"Pansy doesn't know how to apparate," Ryan announced.

"Ryan!" Pansy hissed. He dropped a hasty kiss on her forehead.

"Sorry babe. I don't want to see you splinched," the boy insisted. Kaytryn leaned closer to Draco.

"My vote for oddest couple ever goes to them," she whispered. Both Draco and the vase stifled their laughter.

"Can either of you apparate two people?" Ryan questioned, looking from Kaytryn to Draco back to Kaytryn.

"I can," Kaytryn said, looking up at Draco.

"You're lucky my limit isn't two," Draco muttered.

"This way you're still legal-looking," Kaytryn explained. "And you don't have to let her touch you." The vase released a full-on chuckle. Both Pansy and Ryan turned to look at it.

"Who cares about legal?" Draco questioned.

"This is stupid little stuff that isn't worth getting expelled over," Kaytryn argued. Draco shrugged as well as he could with his arm still around the older girl's shoulders, admitting his defeat.

"So are we ready to go then?" Ryan questioned. Pansy, Kaytryn and Draco all nodded. Pansy stepped over to Kaytryn, who didn't let go of Draco. She extended her hand to the younger girl who took it quite reluctantly. Draco made sure the back of his hand was touching Pansy's shoulder before apparating the three of them to the Leaky Cauldron. Ryan followed a moment later.

"Knockturn then?" Draco questioned after Ryan popped into view.

"Knockturn," Ryan agreed.

"What's in Knockturn Alley at night anyway," Pansy questioned as the quartet exited the back of the Leaky Cauldron. "I've only ever been during the day."

"A couple of clubs, a bar or two that you kids would need fake ID's to get into, and a couple of restaurants," Kaytryn said.

"And then all of the highly sketchy stuff that goes on in the streets," Ryan added.

"That's the stuff mothers warn about."

"So what are we going to do?" Pansy asked.

"You boys up for dancing?" Kaytryn questioned. Draco gave a noncommittal shrug while Ryan paled at the idea.

"Sounds fantastic!" Pansy squealed.

"So it looks like we're checking out the club that just opened," Kaytryn said. Pansy gave Ryan's hand a playful squeeze.

"Your dancing can't be that bad," she tried to reassure him.

"You haven't seen me," Ryan objected.

"That's okay," Pansy insisted. "That just means I'll have to dance with Draco!" Both Draco and Kaytryn released sputtering coughs at the suggestion.

"What if I don't want you to dance with Draco?" Ryan questioned. This effectively silenced Kaytryn's reply of "over my dead body" and Draco's emphatic "or NOT!"

"I favor the life of my toes too much to dance with her," Draco whispered to Kaytryn, who stifled her laughter.

"No promises on not stepping on your toes," Kaytryn said. "But I'm lighter than her so at least they won't break if I do." Draco rolled his eyes and looked up at the starry sky over hanging over their heads.

"We could always get her absolutely trashed just to see if she'd do something exceptionally stupid," Kaytryn suggested.

"You plan on doing that how?" Draco questioned.

"I'm 18. I'll buy the alcoholic version of anything virgin she orders and switch the drinks," Kaytryn reasoned. Draco chanced a small smile at the girl, an action that felt foreign to his face.

"What if she won't leave me alone?" Draco questioned.

"Ryan taking her home would be too much to ask for, wouldn't it," Kaytryn joked. Draco's smile quickly morphed into a more appropriate smirk.

What are you guys whispering about up there?" Pansy questioned shrilly from a couple of steps behind the pair. The quartet turned right from Diagon Alley onto Knockturn.

"We were wondering why our fathers were so insistent upon this outing," Kaytryn lied through her teeth.

"We're the next generation of Death Eaters!" Pansy said, rather loudly.

"Pansy!" Draco and Ryan both admonished.

"It's only reasonable we spend time together," Pansy's volume on the second statement was only slightly quieter than the first. Draco quickened his pace to try to put some amount of distance between himself, Kaytryn, and Ryan and Pansy. He began to take careful note of his surroundings. In the night's inky blackness, the shadow of the Alley seemed thicker than ever. Eyes leered out at the four teens from the shadows. The feeling of being watched made Draco's skin crawl.

"Creepy, isn't it," Kaytryn asked, lacing her fingers through Draco's.

"Slightly," Draco shrugged. At the sight of Kaytryn and Pansy, a low whistle issued from the shadows.

"Creep!" Pansy screeched. Draco could feel Kaytryn cringe beside him.

"She's going to get us all dead," the older girl insisted.

"Parkinson's never been the sharpest knife in the drawer," Draco said.

"Really?" Kaytryn asked, sarcasm dripping from her voice. "But I'm not the one who took her to the Yule ball in my fourth year."

"Have they left yet?" Antonin Dolohov asked as Lucius and Petrograd Parkinson entered Lucius' private study.

"They will leave as soon as Pansy finishes readying herself for the evening," Petrograd replied. Antonin rose from the stiff chair in which he sat facing the windows and turned to look at Lucius and Petrograd. He and Petrograd exchanged a stiff handshake.

"So, gentlemen, shall we get down to business, then?" Lucius asked. He moved behind his desk and picked up a sheaf of papers. Rifling through them masterfully, he sank into his leather executive desk chair.

"We shall," Dolohov agreed as Petrograd took a seat across from Lucius.

"Any work from our Lord?" Petrograd questioned. Lucius gave a curt nod and replaced the papers on his desk.

"Preparations for the ceremony are falling into place," Lucius said. "The site for the ritual has been chosen and most of the ingredients have been gathered."

"Has a date been chosen?" Petrograd questioned.

"Nosey little bastard, aren't you?" Antonin asked. Antonin Dolohov liked very few people and was truly fond of even fewer still. Petrograd Parkinson didn't fall into either of those groups.

"A date hasn't been set," Lucius replied, ignoring Antonin's remark.

"So if almost everything is ready except for the date, why are we even here? And why did we have to get the children out of the manor?" Petrograd questioned.

"Matter of preference," Lucius said lightly. "I'm not so sure allowing anyone to see the three of us walking through here with a body would be in our best interest."

"Remind me again why we're even here," Draco requested of Kaytryn as he looked around the dimly lit room where the pair sat on a zebra print overstuffed sofa.

"Because Pansy read in Teen Witch that navel piercing is the thing to do for fall and this is the only place to have it done in London without having to venture into the muggle sector," Kaytryn replied patiently. Draco nodded and reached for a photo album lying on the low coffee table in front of them.

"Why would anyone want their navel pierced?" the boy questioned as he spread the album open across his lap. Kaytryn slid down in her seat next to him.

"I don't know," Kaytryn replied. She rolled up the point of her triangular shirt to reveal her perfectly round navel. "I don't think I could." She poked her navel with two fingers.

"I wouldn't pierce mine," she announced. "It's too perfect."

"Nice to know you have a perfect navel," Draco muttered as he continued leafing through the album's pages.

"It is!" Kaytryn insisted, poking her stomach again lightly. "The star shape in the middle is perfect, it's perfectly round, and it's certainly an innie, which is ever so much better than an outie."

"I might have to disagree with you on that one," Draco said off-handedly, turning another page of the album.

"Do you have an outie or an innie?" Kaytryn questioned.

"Outie," Draco replied. "The mediwitch botched the severing and healing spells when I was born."

"Lemme see," Kaytryn requested. Draco picked up the album off his lap so Kaytryn could access the bottom of his shirt. He slouched down in his seat and Kaytryn leaned over, sliding under the album. She lifted the edge of his shirt carefully between two fingers and peered at his smooth, pale stomach. Sure enough, His navel was the epitome of an outie. Not a bit of it recessed into his stomach.

"Aww," Kaytryn laughed before extending her left index finger to poke Draco's navel.

"EEEWWWWW!" Draco cried, mere seconds after Kaytryn's finger touched his skin. "If that really is what I'm certain it is, why would ANYONE want it pierced?"

At Draco's initial shout, Kaytryn pulled her hand away from his stomach and dropped his shirt as though she had been burned. She then carefully navigated her way out from under the book. As soon as she was sitting next to him, Draco let the album crash back onto his legs. Kaytryn leaned over to look at the pictures that had so surprised Draco.

"That's actually more reasonable than the navel piercing," Kaytryn said after a moment. "That pierces nerve endings, which increases sensations on stimulation. Generally makes _things_ feel better." She put more emphasis on the word 'things' than really necessary. Draco quickly removed the snarling look from his face.

"Yeah, thought you'd see it differently," Kaytryn laughed. Draco smirked and turned to the next page of the album.

"So why would anyone want to do something like pierce their tongue?" He questioned, looking down at the page of various witches and wizards with their newly pieced tongues lolling out of their mouths. Kaytryn released an evil laugh before leaning over and whispering something in Draco's ear. The boy's eyes widened at her statement.

"And besides, I find tongue rings dead sexy," Kaytryn said aloud. Draco closed the album and placed it back on the table.

"So where do I sign up to have it done?" he asked.

"Muggle or pureblood?" Petrograd questioned. "Or do we get to choose?"

"Eleven-year-old pureblooded witch, because the twins are 11. The blood is for the potion Keiran will have to drink," Lucius explained.

"Isn't your other daughter eleven?" Petrograd questioned. Lucius nodded.

"The Dark Lord doesn't think it wise to use the blood of a sibling," Lucius replied, as though he'd suggested sacrificing Emma. In fact, he had.

"Short list?" Antonin questioned.

"Short list," Lucius replied. "Karey Finnegan, Hailey Johnson, Elmyra Crabbe, and Megan Winterbourne," Lucius said. "Take your pick."

"Doeth it look alright?" Draco questioned. His words were strained and slurred due to the fact that his tongue hung out of his mouth. It sported a silver ball on top of a silver post directly in its center.

"It looks good. You wear it well," Kaytryn insisted jokingly. For the time since the quartet left the piercing parlor five minutes earlier, Draco had been trying vainly to look at his new piercing. The only result was a lolling tongue, crossed eyed look that made the boy look entirely too ridiculous.

"Did it hurt much, Draco?" Pansy called from her spot near Ryan. Her tube top was pushed up as high as it would go and still be proper to show off her new green jeweled navel ring. "Mine hurt ever so much, but now Ryan has healed it,"

"Not bad," Draco said, finally giving up on the idea that he could see his tongue without aid of a mirror.

"Did Kaytryn heal yours?" the girl questioned. Draco nodded.

"Why be in pain when you can heal it?" Kaytryn asked reasonably.

"She's right," Draco agreed.

"Here's the club," Ryan said. The four teenagers stopped and turned towards the brightly lit building.

"Shall we?" Kaytryn asked.

"We shall," Draco agreed.

"So what's the plan?" Petrograd asked. He, Lucius, and Antonin stood against a tall hedge separating two houses in one of the nicer London suburbs. Lesser Death Eaters would have crouched, but these three were unafraid of being seen. They stood just against the hedge and looked towards the large brick house.

"We're going to ring the bloody bell and request the life of their youngest daughter," Antonin hissed. He resisted the urge to cuff Petrograd on the back of his head.

"It doesn't look as though anyone is home," Lucius said to interrupt his two compatriots argument.

"So we go to plan B," Antonin replied.

"No one's told me of plan A," Petrograd complained.

"Don't get your knickers in a twist, Pet" Antonin commanded.

"A freezing spell," Lucius said. "It will kill the girl with the least damage to her body, and preserve her all at once."

"Right then," Antonin said, nodding once. A light flashed on in an upper window in the house.

"That's the girl's bedroom," Lucius said. "Let's go."

"You're not a bad dancer," Kaytryn insisted. The pair stood in the center of the dance floor at Knockturn Alley's newest club. The heavy music pulsed around them, and they seemed oblivious to the surrounding crowd. Kaytryn, with her back to Draco, allowed her right arm to slide over her shoulder, up Draco's jaw, and become entangled in his blonde hair. He leaned in; tightening the grip he had on her hips and lower abdomen, and nipped at the soft spot of skin just below her right ear. A low rumbling purr issued from the back of her throat.

"I'm not sure this is the type of dancing my instructors ever envisioned me doing," Draco laughed before nipping at Kaytryn's neck again.

"Keep that up and I might have to kiss you," Kaytryn warned. Draco made a soft noise against her skin.

"Yeah, that settles it," Kaytryn declared. She pulled Draco's hands from her waist and spun to face him, catching his head in both her hands. She tried to draw his face towards hers, but he straightened with a start. She put on her best pouting face.

"What is it?" she asked, hoping she hadn't moved too fast with the boy.

"Vampire," Draco hissed, trying to look around the room inconspicuously. Kaytryn bit her lower lip.

"Maybe we shouldn't have uncovered this new gift of yours," she muttered.

"He's not that old. I'd leave him be except for the part where Pansy just left by the back door with him," Draco said, shaking off Kaytryn's hands.

"The stupid fucker," Kaytryn muttered as Draco began weaving through the crowd, pulling her behind him. "And I'm not talking about the vampire."

"Kayti, let's save Pansy. Then you may yell at her all you want," Draco said. Kaytryn's smile brightened.

"Do you have a plan?" Kaytryn questioned.

"Surprise it and hope it will run and leave Pansy?" Draco said. "Past that, I got nothing."

"So we hope I know this vamp and can threaten him with Seth," Kaytryn declared as Draco crashed through the door into the alley between the club and Borgin and Burkes. Draco subconsciously stepped over to shield Kaytryn's body with his own.

Kaytryn resolved that not only would she threaten the errant vamp with Seth, she would make sure Seth acted on her threats. Stupid vampires didn't interrupt the almost first kiss between her and the boy she wanted and get away with it. She inched herself closer to Draco and pulled her wand out of her pants.

"There," Draco hissed, nodding down the left of the alley. Sure enough, just in front of the back wall of the dead end alley stood Pansy and the vampire, both facing Draco and Kaytryn. Pansy's back pressed against the vampire's chest. The vampire's head was buried in Pansy's neck on the left side.

"Fuck," Kaytryn hissed. Before Draco could do anything, he felt Kaytryn's wand come to rest on his shoulder.

"Stay still," she commanded. Draco froze and allowed Kaytryn to use his shoulder as a wand rest.

"Incendio!" Kaytryn hissed. The spell blasted from the tip of her wand and struck the vampire directly in the top of his head. The minute the vampire's head burst into flame, Pansy's screams started. The left side of her hair flamed 


End file.
